I go between two feelings throughout the year:
Feeling 1: Ugh, I’m so tired of training for races, I can’t wait until this race is over and I can take a break.
Feeling 2: I don’t have any races on the calendar and therefore no motivation, I can’t wait to sign up for a race and start training.
Right now i’m experiencing Feeling 2 real hard. Last year was filled with races but I let a lot of my training slip. I trained for my triathlons but I also ran two half marathons with barely any training and even signed up for a third and didn’t go through with it (a first for me, still sad about that one).
It’s the beginning of a new year and I haven’t trained for a race since the NYC tri last summer. It’s time to get real. This year I want to sign up for a handful of races and really train and train smart. So far I’m registered for the NYC Tri (6th time doing this race!) on July 19th and am about to take the plunge into an Ironman 70.3 scheduled for June 21st. I’m playing around with the idea of a full marathon at the end of the year but that’s TBD (NYC? Chicago?). Other randoms- I’ve never done an obstacle course race (which is on my 30 before 30 list) and Ragnar relays always look cool and fun. Ok, now I’m getting carried away, these are things I think about but won’t actually do all of them (not all this year anyways).
My biggest focus will be the 70.3 which is only five months away and training begins in just a couple of weeks (or perhaps it should start now?). To encourage myself to run more, I’m thinking about taking on some Central Park races. Basically living next to Central Park gives me no excuse. On my radar is the MORE Women’s Half on April 19th. I figure that will get me amped up with my running, back on a schedule and will be good as the running portion of a 70.3 is a half marathon.
I’m feeling a bit scared of signing up. Last year I signed up for a half marathon, didn’t train, had major calf pains and decided not to run. I’m worried something like that will happen again but I think it’s worth the risk. Race entry for the MORE half is $90 which isn’t nothing but if I sign up and something happens, it’s not the end of the world.
So what I’m saying is, while sometimes it seems like a chore to sign up, spend $ and train for a race, in the end racing is an amazing challenge and it keeps me motivated.
How do you feel about racing? Do you like training and having a schedule or do you prefer working out for fun/standard fitness? Do you have any big races scheduled for 2015?
